Odds and ends from our camp in Montana

Today is our last day at Red Mountain Campground.

After a week, it’s time for a new adventure!The past few days I enjoy getting to know one of my blog readers, Dorothy from Oregon.She travels in a beautiful, 27-foot Born Free Class C.That’s her Honda toad next to it in the photo below.

We sit underneath her big awning.

We talk about RVing and travel (of course), books, how we prepared for retirement, and so on.Dorothy is tech-savvy from her career days.Naturally I pick her brain.

She shows me her marvelous Ipad with its apps for RVers.Oooh, apps to die for.I want an Ipad! Gee, my “second generation” kindle could be replaced with a spiffy kindle paperwhite like Dorothy’s, too.Covetousness, thy name is RVSue!

I successfully replace two fuses in the box under the PTV’s driver’s seat!

Pause for applause. I also open up the fuse box located under the hood, knock on the relay a bit, throw a piece of bacon over my left shoulder, pour salt in my shoe, hop in the PTV, and, with fingers crossed, turn on the air conditioning and fan.Oh please, oh please . . . Drats!As of this time, neither the air conditioning nor the fan works.Pause for boos.

That’s as much as I’m going to fool with it.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help me, but I know when I reach my limit.At our next stop I’ll look for an auto store or auto repair place.And I will hold my head up high for having tried my best.

A week without internet in the BLT is the pits!

I’ve been driving to the tiny town of Norris once or twice a day in order to do the blog-thing and answer emails.It’s true . . . You really appreciate something once it’s gone.I can’t call to make an appointment or get online to research future camps.Maybe our next camp will pick up a signal.All I need is one bar for my Wilson antenna to work its magic.

I love a bargain!

I stop at the Thrift Store in Bozeman and pick up a new-looking Nine West purse that suits me perfectly ($3.00 . . . bwa-ha-ha…)

The otters are here!

Promptly after writing that I don’t see any otters in the river, they stick up their brown and wet noggins, making an appearance right before dark and at daybreak.Magpies, otters, and

Pelicans . . .

(I couldn’t get close to the pelicans so I had to enlarge the photo, hence the focus isn’t great.)

Pelicans are something else.

They look dopey sitting on a rock with this big ol’ bag hanging from their beak. Yet they are expert fishers, dipping that bag along the water’s edge. And when they take to the sky, oh what a sight! They float with grace and beauty.

By the way . . .

I need to get Bridget and Spike back to work on this blog. First thing ya’ know, they’ll be expecting an unemployment check.

rvsue

THANK YOU, RVSUE SHOPPERS! Every order, large or small, tells me I’m appreciated. That means a lot to me!

56 Responses to Odds and ends from our camp in Montana

Hopefully the fan/A/C problem is something simple. Good for you for trying to fix it yourself. Let’s hope rodents haven’t chewed some cable wiring in two. In June, while camped at Mesa Verde Nat’l Park, field mice ( I guess, I didn’t see them), chewed through the rope I have strung between two wheel chocks. One chew through episode occurred while I was setting up camp and before I completed the camp setup, with in 10 minutes of chocking the trailer wheels. Must have been some hungry boogers.

Well heck, you did better than me! I would given up after the first try! NOT mechanically inlined at all! That’s why I married Chuck! He IS mechanically talented, LOL! Nah, I’d love him even if he didn’t know a sparkplug from a toothbrush! Looking forward to your next camp! Drive careful!

FUSES > Fuses are a safety device. They are usually sized to 150 to 200 percent of the maximum current draw of the device being powered. A 2 amp motor would get a 3 amp fuse. When the fuse blows is indicates a problem with the motor or whatever. Replacing a fuse without determining, and fixing the cause is no solution. A good mechanic will always determine the cause of the blown fuse and fix the real problem. This will be more expensive than having the auto parts Kid pop in a new fuse but you will just pay later.

I think the bacon was supposed to go in the shoe and the salt over the left shoulder. Now you have to start all over again.

What you said about the pelicans, I feel the same way about turkey vultures. They are ugly buggers but I love watching them wheel and soar. Absolutely beautiful. And an excellent example of not judging someone or thing by their looks. (Or age!)

I still prefer my kindle over an iPad but the apple products have more variety of apps available than the androids, though they are catching up.

Glad you like the photo. Rivers are easy subjects with their graceful curves.

I like a kindle because you can read it anywhere, including outside. The apps on Dorothy’s Ipad and the convenient size are nice. I’m really weary of toting this big old, clunker laptop in and out of the PTV . . . See? I NEED an Ipad. 🙂

Gee, I’d like to meet Dorothy some time. I also have a Born Free [24′] and tow a Honda CRV.

I agree with Donna about turkey vultures. The have a rare beauty all their own. At Big Bend NP in the spring they will lurk around your campsite. Unsettling at times but kind of cool. I’ve heard they will eat rubber and caulking from RV roofs, though.

Hey, wait a minute! After looking at her blog, I realized that I have met Dorothy! Pheasant Ridge RV Park, Wilsonville, OR, 2008. We went to CW together. I had a flat tire on my BF due to a bad valve stem extension and it was a Sunday and I had to limp into Discount Tires on Monday morning. Hi, Dorothy! 🙂

Well Sue….nice try. Hopefully you’ll find a mechanic who can solve the problem inexpensively. Speaking of your Pelicans my Dad used to say “funny bird, the Pelican….it’s beak can hold more than it’s belly can.” Nice to see you on the move again, I was getting restless. My best…..

Hi Jim… I was restless, too. The weekend crowd was big and annoying… playing music late, running a big pick-up on the grass, day-use people walking all over one’s campsite (One family sat down at Dorothy’s picnic table…LOL!). . .

The campground is starting to deteriorate from overuse and lack of enforcement of rules.

Some people just don’t understand boundaries! When you are in a site, you are basically “renting” it and others should not come into your “yard.”

I was tent camping at Cape Cod a couple of years ago. The first day, a young couple next to me would cut through my campsite at all times and into the night, on the way to the bathroom. The next day I explained to them that it’s not good etiquette to do that and it made me nervous to hear someone walking through my site at night. They took it well and didn’t do it again.

Good for you, Donna! You educated that couple. Dorothy talked with the family at her picnic table and they moved. They were surprised to learn that we paid for our campsites and they weren’t there for everyone to use whenever they felt like it. While I was in Norris to get online, a fifth wheel parked in my campsite, right in front of the BLT. He pulled out right when I returned.

So glad to read about Dorothy. I also have a Class C and have been doing some part time traveling around the Southeast. Also glad to see that my Amazon order went through and you received credit. I wasn’t so sure when I made the purchase. I do get your blog by email and your email is the first thing I look at in the morning. Such fun to read of your adventures. Stay safe and be always the COOL!!! person you are.

Sue, I just watched a program on the History channel about the Swiss army knives! Very interesting. And I’m so excited (and envious) that you found a Nine West purse for $3.00. My old purse gave out and I ordered a new one from Amazon, but I don’t care for it. I always buy mine when we travel to Williams, AZ! I guess we’ll just HAVE to go there next fall!
~~Cheryl Ann~~

It’s amazing that I found that deal on a purse. If I had gone into Macy’s or Kohls or some place like that, I’d look at every purse and not find one the right size, the right color, the right length straps, the right style, whatever. Here I walk into a thrift store and spot my perfect purse across the room…

RvSue..I enjoy your blog so much…always gives me a smile.Now I am not braggin’ I do tune ups and front brake jobs on my motorhome and I have noticed one thing….the more I learn about mechanicen’ ..the better I get at cussin’..!!!

Bozeman… nice town this time of year. You’re about 12 hours north of me as we have not hit the road yet. Long Story. Anyway, if you get within reach of me, my mechanic hubby will have a look at the AC unit. Come the 10th… I W.I.L.L. be headed west.

Rowdy has a new suit. I could not go with the kind the Crew has, the little @?$#@?? has trouble listening so I opted for a suit with a handle on it. Think of “See Spot Run,” picture see “Rowdy Get Plucked” that handle is so nice on that suit.

Not sure of your travel plans, can only pray you’re not heading do east. The OIL fields east of you have not so safe places spread far into the Montana side. If you’re heading southeast… towards Billings/enroute to SD do be careful near the Reservation area. I know the area very well, and camping is great near the lakes but boondocking not so much in and around the Reservation south of Billings and north of Sheridan on the Montana side.

Don’t rush into SD…. Sturgis is pretty but filling up with Bikes and not the peddle kind. Gets kind of crazy there this time of year. This time of year, many undesirables flock to that part of the Country for PARTY TIMES!!!

Take care and be safe…. and yes, Spike will be applying for unemployment and Bridget, workers comp. I see them headed for the lines now…

As you know Sue, I lived several years in Chamberlain and Wessington Springs South Dakota. While there my fishing and “drinking” buddy was the state trooper in the area. He used to love the Sturgis bike rally. They assembled a large number of troopers as well as officers from all over the country to work rally week. My buddy used to say it is just like a circus and has just as many clowns. Lot’s of action for the officers there which was a departure from those days and nights of boring patrol.

Congratulations on getting under the hood and working on the fuses. Even though you didn’t fix the problem, you tried, and for us single ladies, that’s a major accomplishment! Like Mick said, there may be a larger problem lurking in the AC, but I give you props for trying the small fixes first.

I see pelicans when I visit my mother on the Texas Gulf Coast. They are ungainly looking, yes even ugly, when sitting on piers on on the sand. But in the water they are a thing of beauty. Interesting that you found them in Montana.

There is some stuff on the market called Fresh Cab that is supposed to work good on rodents under your hood eating the wire coverings. I talked to a lady at a feed store about it and she said it works but you have to replace it every 3 months or so. They were out of it at the time. I wonder if moth balls would work? Bees and wasps like to make nests in the air conditioners on top of our RV’s. Might want to get up there on a ladder and take a look-see. Do it at night so you won’t get stung.

Can’t wait to “see” your new site. I have one week left until school starts, so will be spending a lot of time this week in my classroom. I taught summer school this year and have been busy making some dresses and tops for work–summer zipped by quickly yet I am ready to see my babies. Hugs to the fur kids from my fur kids!